Recent Articles from Kira Jenkins
2022 Political Roundtable: Red wave? Maybe a puddle
On balance, Democrats came out winners in the 2022 midterm elections, having staved off a widely forecast “red wave” of Republican victories, according to panelists at Virginia Business’ annual Political Roundtable, held Nov. 9 in Richmond. The idea of a red wave or “red tsunami” was “perhaps … a bit of a myth … largely […]
The 23rd edition of the Virginia Business Legal Elite
Launched in cooperation with the Virginia Bar Association in 2000, Virginia Business’ Legal Elite polls lawyers licensed to practice in Virginia each year, asking them to identify which of their peers are the top attorneys across 20 categories of legal specialties. In compiling the Legal Elite, Virginia Business contacted more than 14,000 attorneys and more […]
Lawyers aim to lower barriers to legal advice for startups
It takes a lot to start a business — a marketable idea, available capital and good advice, among other resources. Tricia Dunlap puts legal guidance in the same bucket. A former history teacher who became a lawyer in her 40s, Dunlap started her own Richmond-based law firm, Dunlap Law PLC, in 2015 to help “un-lawyered […]
Getting meta
Twenty years ago, artificial intelligence seemed like the stuff of sci-fi films such as “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “The Matrix.” Today, it’s so ubiquitous as to be virtually unremarkable and unnoticeable — integrated into everything from GPS traffic navigation apps on our phones to smart devices in our homes to security scanners at the […]
A ‘quiet’ place?
With Halloween fast approaching, I thought I’d regale you with a spooky tale of the corporate world’s favorite new boogeyman: quiet quitting. Like many scary things for people over age 45, this story begins on TikTok and Reddit, where this summer Gen Z and millennial workers were riffing about “quiet quitting” — generally defined as […]
All businesses great and small
There are 32.5 million small businesses in the United States, employing more than 61 million people and making up a staggering 99.9% of the nation’s businesses, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. As business journalists, though, we tend to focus almost exclusively on the larger businesses that reap bigger profits and make bigger news. […]
2022 Virginia 500: Moving up
When I give my elevator speech about the Virginia 500, it usually starts this way: It’s like the Fortune 500, but instead of focusing on companies, it’s about people. More specifically, unlike the Fortune 500, which ranks companies by gross revenues, this is a more subjective list. We strive to inventory the most powerful and […]
Diamonds in developers’ eyes
Standing near the grand entrance of upcoming entertainment venue and food hall The Park at RVA, Orcun Turkay says he’s excited for the future of Richmond’s newly branded Diamond District. He calls it “Scott’s Addition 2.0,” referencing the trendy adjoining neighborhood. Exact plans for the Diamond District, which will include a replacement for the city’s […]
Breaking rank
What a difference a year makes. On July 13, 2021, against a backdrop of ships blasting their horns and spraying water in celebration at the Port of Virginia’s Norfolk International Terminals, Gov. Ralph Northam sat for a harborside interview with CNBC, which had just named Virginia the nation’s best state for business for an unprecedented […]
Virginia’s Fortune 500 companies
Virginia continues to perform well on the Fortune 500, with 21 companies from the commonwealth making the 2022 list, which ranks the 500 largest publicly traded companies in the United States by total revenue. Mortgage finance company Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (“Freddie Mac”) once again topped Virginia’s list of Fortune 500 companies. With $65.89 […]